Stop Settling

Joey - Intro

Series Overview

Eye Anatomy

Ancient History: Eyes aren’t just organ’s of vision, but organs of understanding/perception.

Cole - Intro

Welcome (Talk about snow)

Who likes optical Illusions?

(Go through slides)

Here’s the deal, Seeing one part of the picture is great…but seeing both is even better.

Growing up, I’d lie and say I saw both, just to fit in. And, for me, seeing just one part was good enough. Come to find out, my eyes had been failing me. MORE ON THAT LATER.

Tonight, we’re going to be discussing how God always has something better for us, and how all to often, like me growing up with optical illusions, we settle for only seeing one side of the photo or what can just “get us by.” So, tonight, we’re going to stop settling, and seek the Lord on what better things he has for us.

Growing up, I’d lie and say I saw both, just to fit in. And, for me, seeing just one part was good enough. Come to find out, my eyes had been failing me.

Series Overview

Getting Glasses Story

Eye Anatomy

Cole - Story

Eye Doctor Story

Like Joey, I too, needed glasses. However, what I learned was that it wasn’t just my vision that was suffering, it was my perception as well.

Cole - Passage

Passage Presentation:

Cole - Exegesis

1. “[Jesus] led him out of the village.”

2. “[Jesus] led him out of the village.”

kajhdask

The importance of getting one-on-one with the Lord can’t be overstated.

Why? Because the voices we hear, determine our perceptions and beliefs. What voices are you listening to? Are you taking the things you hear from the world into prayer?

2. “Do you see anything?”

Don’t you love when Jesus asks questions he already knows the answers to?

By asking this question, Jesus is continuing his his original line of questioning in verses 14-21. And, we start to get the sense that Jesus is trying to make a point.

There’s always something more Jesus is trying to show people in his healings, their not just Jesus’ flexing his God-muscles.

3. “I see people, but they look like trees?”

So, it’s obvious that Jesus’ little “spitting on the eyes” act hasn’t quite resulted in the outcome we expected.

I mean seeing people as trees is a lot better than seeing nothing at all, right? But, there’s got to be something better. And, there is.

4. “And, he saw everything clearly.”

Now, after reading this, you’re left wondering: Why did it take two times? Can Jesus not heal with one touch?

This is where we like to say, “Context is King.” You see Jesus was trying to point out that our vision can be restored, but our perceptions can still be broken.

When Jesus touched the man the first time, he healed his vision. But, clearly, his perception was still in need of restoration. He was seeing people as trees.

However, this is where many of us our in our walk with Christ. We’ve been touched by Jesus, and he’s given us new vision, and we walk away feeling great.

The only problem is, our perception is still in need of restoration.

And, this is the exact same position the disciples were in with Christ: He had given them new vision, but there perceptions were still off.

For many of us, we just settle. And, if we’re honest, we were just looking for the golden ticket, and not all of what Christ has to offer.

MAIN POINT: If we want to see clearly in this life, we will need to keep coming back to Jesus. (coming once will not be enough)

QUESTION: Where in your life are you settling? What more does Christ have to offer you?

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Analogy)

Who here has seen the movie or read the book, “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory”? Raise a hand.

One by one, each them settled for what they thought was the prize. Until only Charlie was left.

However, what Charlie deceived was the Wonka had something more to offer them than just access to his factory, right?

This is the PERFECT picture of God’s kingdom and the world around us.

God has so much more to give than golden tickets to heaven.

Close

For the blind man, seeing people as trees is good compared to not seeing people at all, right? But, Christ had something better for him.

For the people who recieved the golden ticket, gaining access to the Chocolate factory was amazing, right? But, Wonka had something better for them.

For the blind man, seeing people as trees is good compared to not seeing people at all, right? But, Christ had something better for him.

For us, coming to the Edge every Thursday night and getting an end of the week high is great, right? But Jesus has something more for us, something better.

WHATS BETTER?

Ephesians 1

Better connection with God in our relationship with him

Identity is what’s better!!

We may have hope

Intimacy with God, Deeper Understanding of the hope we have been given, and Access to the Sprit

We settle for mediocrity, even though we’ve been granted access to the power that raised Christ from the dead

Edge, LETS STOP SETTLING

Response

We’re going to get one-on-one with the Lord and simply ask him some questions

Remember, hearing from the lord is something magical.

It’s just the words that come to our mind when our mind is FOCUSED on Jesus

ASK GOD: What does better look like for me? Where am I settling to see things as trees?

Why do we long for Heaven? Is it to escape. Or is it because we long for the world around us to be restored.